Revising of a Background Character
by andReiki
Summary: How is it like to be a background character in a fantasy world; doing nothing but hoping your heroes can lay waste to the evils that plague your kingdom? Pretty easy, actually. Unless, your writer decides you're too lovely to have a minor role and decides to give you a happy ending- with the hero, nonetheless. Beware the AU, OOC, BL and one tiny OC. More characters inside.


**a/n:** If you're asking what this is, I can't answer you. Really, I can't. I just sat down this morning, went over some writing prompts to get right of a writer's block, instead of studying for my finals (god job! You're such a model student, aren't ya?!) and this came out. How? No idea! What's it about? Background character actually becoming a main character and getting the girl… I mean, the man. Why of course it's slash, what else could it be?

I admit, I thought about making it het, I did.

And then Sasuke came along and ruined everything.

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto and his little jolly friends (SJ, SP), so it stands to be correct that it is not mine- I'm just borrowing it.

 **Warning:** Slash/Shounen-Ai/Boy's Love, slight cursing, AU, OOC, OC, characterism and demon slaying;

 **Genre:** Fantasy, Comedy, Romance, Slice of Life, General, Adventure;

 **Pairing:** SasuNaruSasu, ChomeixOC, SaikenxKatsuyu;

* * *

The _other_ is what they called him. He was just one of the members of the vast numbers of expendable, puny mortals. Sure, anyone but the demons and their alikeness were mortal, but his kind was the mortal _mortal_ kind. No last march into an explosion of epic proportions, no death by the hand of an almighty, no nothing… except plain old boring, just existent, life.

He had no lineage of great magus in his blood, no prophecy foretold of his coming, no wealthy uncle to name him an heir, no unimaginable powers to call their own… He had nothing but these two hands and a little cottage in the middle of two hills; in the farthest part of the kingdom, somewhere where demons that plagued the lands never reached.

Actually, not that many of anybody reached this far; an occasional traveler would sometimes pass through his lands, at times asking him for directions, the faithful delivery man, bringing news and supplies from the city, a little girl lost on the path to her grandmas', and that blushing maiden from three hills away who always brought stew with her.

Back when his uncle was still alive, running the house and the fields, he fancied becoming a mender. This wish mostly originated from his uncles inability to stay in one piece, always missing a nail, finger, later a limb, when he went out to the fields.

Those dreams quickly crashed once the leading mender in town vehemently explain to him about his inability to grasp simple mending techniques, not to mention him not having an ounce of magi.

And so his uncle passed, leaving the young him without any fortune but some acres of lands and a cottage.

But he made do; he worked diligently, going over his shortcomings, day and night, managing… well, not to become the best farmer of them all, but decent. He still had all his limbs and fingers attached.

Even as such miser, background character of the world, he has managed to hear the fabled stories of their fair kingdom.

When he was but a nine year old, his uncle's friend brought news of the late royal majesty pair passing away, along with the crowned prince, whilst the young prince was found missing. Contrary to popular belief, the demon king that abducted the throne left it all to quickly, leaving the royal council of humans to deal with it.

There weren't exactly of the blue blood, but they made the kingdom peaceful and running again, so the people were content. They weren't in great need of their prince, even though some still mourned and wished for him.

By the time he was thirteen years of age, his never would be aunt proclaimed that the great mender has taken upon a student (that was the same mender who turned him away but a summer ago), who promised greatness. With the legendary student mender came the lost prince, found by her in a port city, as a vassal to a knight.

The kingdom rejoiced and the throne was royal's family again. He thought nothing of it, wishing them both luck and silently continued to search for his uncle's ear.

Come the autumn of his sixteens' birthday and the prince, along with his powerful mender, knight teacher and newly appointed head magi left the kingdom politics in the hands of the trusted council and left on a mission to purge the lands of the demons.

In his mind only he called him an idiot, but still sympathized, like the rest of the kingdom. It must've been a heavy weight upon his chest, the death of his family.

Then uncle passed and only news brought by travelers and the blushing maiden came to him; how the prince defeated great armies of demons, how he helped save a town from a controlling madman, how he, two years into his adventure, slayed the demon king and freed their world of those abominations once and for all.

And then, during the spring of his nineteenth year to pass, demons came. A small army, probably what was left of them after the Great Purge, came to his hills and inhabited his lands.

At first, he was angered by such manners, but later he found them to be a mere headache.

They weren't the blood thirsty monsters the tales told and no matter how much people scream and ran from them, they never harmed a single soul. He has found they were merely looking for a new home, what with the prince burning down their previous one.

Being a kind soul, he took pity on them and offered a helping hand, officially allowing them to stay on his lands and food, for those who wished to help him work the fields. If he illegally affiliated some of his neighbor's lands to his, no one complained.

This is how Uzumaki Naruto found himself living, admits dozen or so cottages, surrounded from all sides by the peaceful loving demons.

That was not how he imagined his life to turn out, but he wasn't complaining. At least the impromptu demon leader, Kurama, deigned him worthy to train in the arts of sword manipulation. Not to mention he had plenty of patients to practice his mending skills on.

The table was always filled with food and Naruto was never alone. He actually liked his life of a background character now.

Until the pompous prince and his entourage came.

* * *

It was a morning like any; Naruto woke up, had a simple breakfast, left the cottage to work in the fields with Son, the monkey demon, and Kokuo, the horse demon, leaving the others to tend around their houses and prepare a meal.

After a long day's work spent plowing the fields and berating the young snake demon, Aoda, for sleeping on the job, yet again, Naruto left with Gamakichi to the river.

Indulging the youngest demon a bit, Naruto spent a long time playing with him there, catching flies and dragonflies. By the time they came back, the toad was stuffed and happily napping on Naruto's back. Isobu, his surrogate father merely rolled his one eye and took the youngling to their cottage, proceeding to put him in his water bowl, to rest at ease.

Matatabi and Saiken served the meal out in the open, with the rest of their impromptu family joining in; sans the passed out Gamakichi and Saiken's wife, Katsuyu, who was resting, due to her pregnancy.

Naruto was intently following Gyuki's and Kurama's heated discussion when the sounds of horses neighing reached their ears. Silence fell upon them all when they turned to look at the newcomers.

A beautiful lady in red robes reached them first, her pink hair flying freely in the breeze. There was a rhombus marking on her forehead and Naruto immediately knew who she was; Sakura Haruno, the fabled apprentice of Tsunade, one of the legendary menders. He gulped, knowing there will be more headaches to come.

Just as she was about to dismount her pale horse, a picturesque bird swooped down next to her, melting into a raven haired man, not much older than Naruto. His robes were black, rimmed with gold, and on his chest proudly stood the magi amulet. This probably meant he was Sai, the head magi of the kingdom.

Which meant that the silver headed, also donned in silver armor, was Kakashi Hatake, the princes tutor and the regal looking man on a black stallion was the prince himself.

Naruto sighed, letting go of his fork.

They all dismounted, tied their horses to the trees nearby and started walking towards them, with the royal prince Sasuke Uchiha leading them, Kakashi Hatake safeguarding their backs and Sakura and Sai flocking the princes' sides.

Kurama rose up from his chair, his eyes swearing up a storm and his fists tightening, even before the group reached them. Shukaku, always one for a fight, and Chomei followed him, with the rest of the demons silently glowering in their seats.

The party reached their table and Naruto could honestly say that he greatly disliked the princes' disdained look.

"What a sight this is, demons gathering at the table." The pink haired mender spoke, her whole face contorting into a grimace. Naruto concluded she was, in fact, quite ugly.

"Horrid demons of the north, what business do you have in my eastern lands?" The prince spoke, and as much as Naruto wanted to correct him on account this being _his_ lands, he couldn't. He was the prince, so, in fact, they _were_ his lands.

Kurama snarled, not so elegantly, but dared not to move from his spot.

" _Uchiha_." He growled his name out like it was a curse. Naruto tried not to laugh. "What brings the likes of _you_ to these parts?"

The prince raised his head, slight clear in his face, before speaking up again.

"We have received news of demons ravaging my kingdom, yet again."

Hatake, who was curiously looking over every one of them, caught Naruto's eyes and winked.

He didn't know how to feel about that.

"Naturally, our first cause of action was to investigate it." Sai quipped in, his own eyes wandering over the food laid out before him.

"Imagine our surprise when we heard a group of demons killed the previous owner of these lands and took them as their own. Habituating it."

Shukaku guaffed.

"Killed? We didn't kill anyone! The brat offered us to stay here on his own!" That seemed to confuse the group; except Kakashi, who was still winking at Naruto.

The blonde ignored him.

The prince lowered his eyes, pointedly looking at Shukaku.

"You jest, demon. No human would ever house the likes of you."

"I would."

All heads turned to Naruto, comfortably sitting in his chair, at the head of the table. He gave them a soft smile, not quite certain how to proceed in this situation.

The royal groups' eyes widened after noticing his presence; and why wouldn't it? A lone, fragile looking human, relaxed amidst demons, actually confessing to helping them? Preposterous!

"Uzumaki Naruto at your service, you royal highness." Being courteous enough to speak it, but not to raise in his presence, Naruto remained seated and cheery. That damned silver head was still winking.

They were giving him confused looks, so he decided to elaborate.

"The previously mentioned killed owner of these lands. And Shukaku,"He added "Compared to your mentality, I am already a sage."

Son started snickering and there was a smile threatening to break onto Kurama's face.

"How could that be?!" The mender screeched. Naruto's fingers twitched to rub his head.

"Why would a human, a compatriot, offer such things to demons, of all?!"

Naruto shrugged.

"Ah well, they said they needed a place to live, so I gave them that. They also help me run the fields. Only a madman would refuse such an agreement."

It would seem, by the murderous look in her jade eyes, that her opinion of a madman differed, and that she currently thought of him as such.

"As you see," Kurama continued to speak in his patronizing voice "We actually have his permission to stay here, so if that's all, do be kind and be gone with the wind." At that, he sat down.

Sakura's face reddened from the lava of anger that was just waiting to burst.

"Now, you look here…"

"Maa, maa, let's all calm down and think about this carefully." The winking knight merrily said, laying down a hand on her shoulder. After seeing that she did calm down a bit, he turned to his prince. "Sasuke-kun, maybe we should just leave them be."

The prince quirked his dark eyebrow at him.

"As you can see, they pose no threat to us, or anybody but this young lad, and I'm quite certain they wish no harm to him." He winked yet again. Naruto broke his cheery mask to scowl at him, which hadn't gone unnoticed by either Kurama or the prince.

Kurama let out a threatening glower at the winking monster and the prince actually gave a scowl on his own to his tutor.

Kakashi giggled, before turning his head away from Naruto.

"See, they are even eager to protect him at all cost."

Naruto begged to disagree, but that really wouldn't help their situation, so he kept his mouth shut.

The prince mulled things over in his head. It only took a moment for him to reach a decision.

"All right, you may remain on these lands, as long as no harm comes to any human in this region. For if it will, I will personally hold you responsible."

It seemed like the mender wanted to disagree, but the dark look of her lord told her to keep her mouth shut.

Sai smiled, unnaturally, summoning up a chair out of the bare air and seating himself at the table.

"In that case, I am famished. You don't mind, do you?" He asked, pointing his eyes to stare into Naruto. Blinking, Naruto nodded.

"Be my guest."

Needing no further prompting, Sai helped himself to the deer meat Gyuki caught earlier in the day. It seemed like the band of demons wanted to protest, but one look from Kurama silenced them.

Not that he liked this arrangement, but if Naruto had no qualms about them meant they were all going to be on their best behavior in front of their guest.

The remaining three stood behind Sai, with incredulous looks. Biting his lip, Naruto decided good manners should prevail above everything else, and offered his chair to the prince.

"If you will, your majesty, you are free to join us."

The prince was owlishly blinking at him. Naruto suppressed a grin.

"I am sure your travels have tired you, your majesty. This cuisine may not be up to your standards, but it is all we have to offer."

Kakashi grinned and hopped over to Sai, who already had a chair conjured for him. Following his tutors movements, the prince mechanically, slowly, trudged over to the chair.

He hesitantly sat himself down, and with eyes wide as saucers, watched the scenery before him.

Only after Naruto changed his plate and utensils did he raise his hand for the tomatoes, which was all it took for Sakura to take the chair Isobu offered.

Aoda, who sat on the princes' left side, proceeded with blabbing all about the cool new cave he found, to the south-east of the river, filled to the brim with his brethren (the non-demon kind). Slowly, ever so slowly, the prince relaxed and they found out he actually had a soft spot for snakes.

By the end of their meal, Sakura was happily chatting away with Saiken, Kakashi and Chomei were involved into a who's got the funnier story to share contest, Son and Kokuo were making demands of Sai to cast some spell to cultivate their fields and the prince was just getting into the glare contest with Kurama.

Isobu, standing off to the side with Naruto, gave him a 'what can you do' look, before retreating to his home. Matatabi left earlier to bring some food to Katsuyu and Shukaku was already on the ground, rolling by the force of laughter Kakashi's jokes got out of him.

Naruto smiled, gently, satisfied this didn't escalate into something unpleasant.

Night fell and the royal party decided it was too late to travel the road back home, so Naruto offered them beds to spend it. Of course, the beds were lacking, but Sai quickly took care of it with a flick of his wrist. The prince received Naruto's own bed, and after a moment of saying their goodbyes, all laid to rest.

Only to be woken up by Kurama's and prince's shouting match.

He blearily exited the cupboard he spent the night and came upon the duo. Kakashi sported a stern look, Sakura was confused and Sai held that strange smile of his. Naruto blinked slowly at the scene before him; prince Sasuke was scowling and yelling some curses at Kurama, who returned the fire as an equal.

He slithered slowly towards Sai, his look quietly asking what happened. Sai grinned, but refused to elaborate. Naruto sighed; rolling his eyes, and went up to the yelling duo.

"Your highness… What quarrel do you have against Kurama?"

The stormy eyes of the last Uchiha came upon Naruto's blue yonder, before relaxing, calming. His next words were spoken in a soft tone.

"Upon my awakening this morning, Sai managed to uncover traces of human in your abode."

Traces of what now?

Confused, Naruto turned to Sai who still wore that creepy smile.

"It is obvious that, no matter how peaceful they seem to be, these demons have harmed a human and even ate his body."

The prince continue, his hand hovering over his sword, but his eyes never straining from Naruto's, even if his tone turned cold.

"They have tricked you, Mr. Naruto, and if you may allow it, I will personally punish them for their transgression."

The princes' eyes turned pleading and Naruto had a great amount of nerves telling him that on no account should he let his majesty do as he wish. There was too much blood thirst in him that it would probably not turn nice… for any of them.

So he tried to appease him.

"You highness, I can assure you that no harm has befallen a human while they were here." He said, with his tone turning soft and melodic, something he found calmed even Kurama on his worst days.

Kurama nodded vehemently.

"Yeah, the kit was all alone in this god forsaken land when we came."

The prince turned his doubtful eyes on the fox demon.

"It is as Kurama says; this part of the land is too far to be reached by the townsfolk, and the only two humans that have passed through here before… well, they weren't that keen on meeting Kurama and the rest again."

The princes' eyes lightened again, and Naruto had to add:

"No one here hurt them, your majesty; they simply were too frightened to ever come back again."

There was disappointment in the air around the prince, but Naruto knew he managed to convince him of the demons innocence.

"Then, how do you explain the hand Sai found earlier this morning?"

A hand…? Naruto turned to look at the magi again, this time clearly seeing the object he was holding. Indeed it was a hand; a callous one, filled with cuts and aged by time. Naruto came closer to the hand, ripping it from Sai's hold and turning it over.

There, pierced though the flash of it was a small black rod. Naruto knew but one person who would have a hand like this.

"Ah, this… Is my uncle's hand." Everyone, even Kurama, turned to openly stare at him. "During the life he lived, uncle had incredible luck of losing body parts. His loss of eyes is what finally decided his demise."

It was hardly believable, but Naruto knew it to be true. A crow attacked his uncle, one day in the field, and ripped out his eyes. He never recovered from that, seeing as how he never previously fully recovered from being mauled by the bear in the forest.

"There must be some other body parts of his in the house and in the fields… Come to think about it, I never found that ear…" Naruto's eyes blurred and the faraway look told them he was already not there with them.

The prince cleared his throat. Kurama blinked back at him, smiling expectantly. Scowling, the prince offered his apologies for the slight he brought to him with his suspicions.

Kakashi, back in his cheery persona, clapped his hands.

"Well, I guess that's settled."

Naruto woke up from his memories to be welcomed by the dark eyes of the prince. He gave a slight smile. The prince coughed into his hand, turning his face away from Naruto.

"I must thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Naruto."

The blonde shrugged, knowing not how to respond to that.

"You have… amongst other things, certainly changed our views. For the better, I hope."

This time he did face Naruto, his eyes burning with something Naruto didn't recognize.

"I hope we shall meet again, Mr. Naruto." He offered his hand which Naruto accepted, only to have it covered by the pair of princes' cold ones.

"Ah, if fates will it so, your majesty. And I'm glad I could be useful to you and the kingdom in any way I can."

His, theirs, hand was risen just above the princes' chest. There was a swirl of emotions in the princes' eyes and then it was over; his hand free by his side. The prince, who was standing just an inch away from Naruto, stepped back, a small smile tittering at his lips.

"I have no doubt they will."

With that, he turned around and disappeared from Naruto's life. And lands, which was more important.

Kurama clapped him on the back, commenting on a job well done. Naruto was just glad this was all over.

* * *

When three months later builders came, along with their tectonic materials and plans of making a vacation manor for the prince, Naruto's headaches started coming back.

A week into the construction, it became obvious it wasn't just one manor they were building; houses started sprouting from his lands and he knew something funny was happening when they started dancing around his own cottage, asking about the structure and what not.

It took two months for the whole project to be finished with, and where once dozen of lonely cottages resided, was one a small, simple village with stone houses, a grandiose manor in the mere centre, a public bathroom and stores.

All that, surrounded by cultivated fields of wheat, rice, tomatoes, carrots and many, many other eatable plants.

Naruto woke up one morning and found himself inhabiting an unfamiliar house, with all of his stuff from the previous house already there and many other, brand new, stuff added. Later confrontation with the demons confirmed that he wasn't the only one to be surprised like that.

Despite feeling grateful to the prince, for who else could have done all this, Naruto had a funny feeling in his gut. He hoped prince expected nothing in return.

A year passed during which more demons started populating the village, demons Naruto was unfamiliar with but still welcomed with open hands. He prayed the prince wouldn't mind this as much.

Demons carried news of the princes' grandest hike; he has left the kingdom, yet again, in the hands of his council and started travelling the world. This time, promoting peace between humans and demons, telling any demon he comes across of the town on the east where demons are welcome to stay.

Not many believed them, but those who did found his words to be true. Especially since Gyuki and Saiken established the school for the young demons, Matatabi started giving cooking lessons to those who wished for it and Naruto opened a small, medical room in his house; for all who managed to hurt themselves. Katsuya, with her vast knowledge of plants and demon mending, became his tutor; unlike Tsunade, she was gentle when correcting his mistakes.

Not that Naruto made many of them: unlike before, he was a grown up now and did realize the difference between ulna and radia.

Kurama was unanimously elected as their mayor and Chomei became the worker's syndicate union leader. There were mild snake and toad infestations in the village, due to Aoda and Gamakichi inviting their friends all the time, but they learned to live with it.

All was made better when the shy maiden who used to visit Naruto moved into the village with her brother, as their newest shopkeepers.

It was only but a matter of time before the whole world accepted demons as their equals and Naruto couldn't wait to live to see it.

A year passed since the prince built the village for demons and time came for his first, official, visit.

The grand manor started bustling with life long before the prince actually arrived, along with the whole village; so that once the prince set foot into it, the first festival of Oni would begin.

Naruto was standing among the crowd that watched the princes' passage through the main road, statued proudly on his dark stallion, Chidori, smiling regally and waving to his subordinates. He stopped right before the manor, dismounted the horse and entered his vacation home. Naruto grinned and left with Hinata to attend the festival stalls.

Two days passed, with demons partying all day and night, and Naruto having hands full detoxing them from their mystical liquor. Just when he was about to make himself a cup of tea and rest for a while, the prince entered his home, without invite, which bothered him a little, looking paler than ever and nervously tugging on his shirt.

"Mr. Naruto."

The blonde turned around, letting his eyes travel across the princes' frame, noticing how distraught he looked. He gestured to the chair in front of him.

"You majesty. Please, take a seat." He hesitated for a second only, relaxing his body into the cushioned chair and laying his hands on his lap.

"It is a pleasure to see you again your majesty." Naruto quipped, giving off a smile to try and subdue princes' nerves.

"No, it is I who is most pleased by our meeting."

The royal man said, his eyes finding and boring into Naruto's own.

"Please, call me Sasuke. It is odd to be referred as a prince for me, having grown up as a vassal to a knight."

Naruto could understand that, but it still didn't mean he had to respect his wishes. After all, a plebeian like him, on a first name basis with the royal highness? It was certainly unheard of.

Still, he guessed he could fancy the prince a bit.

"Prince Sasuke then?" He tried and the relived look that passed over his face told Naruto the prince was pleased with it.

"That will do… for now."

Silence fell upon them, making Naruto slightly confused and the prince even more nervous.

"I have come.."

"Would you like.."

They started at the same time, before falling silent again.

"Please go ahead, prince Sasuke." The prince jumped in his seat, raising his arm to gesture towards Naruto.

"No, no, please, you first Mr. Naruto."

Naruto exhaled the air in his lungs and chuckled slightly.

"I wanted to ask you if you would care for some tea? I was just about to prepare myself some."

The rose colour looked off on the princes' cheeks, but Naruto didn't read into it much.

"Tea? Ah yes, I would like some, thank you very much for offering." He answered, inclining his head downwards.

Naruto rose up and headed towards the oven, putting an already filled up pot on the fire and quickly picking out the tea leaves form the shelves. All along, he felt the princes' gaze following his every movement.

After he presented two mugs at the table, prince Sasuke quickly grabbed for one, seemingly finding courage for his words in this simple action.

"I arrived at your house with the intention to… ask you to attend a… dinner party with me."

Naruto's fair eyebrow flashed before he could stop it. The prince blushed and his voice softened even more.

"I mean, um… If you would like to. I… I wish to repay you for your kindness a year ago and I thought… I believed that a home meal would be enough."

He looked at the man, nay, boy in front of him and saw what probably many others did. A simple, lonely boy who sought company in his darkest hours. The prince already repaid anything he had to repay by building this wonderful village for them, a royal dinner atop of it all was far too much to be an ordinary act of paying his dues.

Prince Sasuke wished to have a friend who would not judge him by his mannerism, blood and fortune, a friend who will look at him and after him.

Naruto probably fit into the description nicely, what with housing demons left and right.

He smiled gently, making the princes' blush deepen.

"I would be honoured to."

Prince Sasuke's eyes jumped up to meet Naruto's, drowning in emotions of happiness and gratitude. He gave the blonde a small, thankful smile:

"I… Thank you Mr. Naruto."

"There's no need to thank me, Prince Sasuke. I may be getting ahead of myself, but I like to think of us like something akin to friends."

A light started dancing across princes' face and Naruto knew he made the right choice.

"And, in my experience, friends support each other no matter what."

Prince Sasuke was biting into his lip now.

"Yes. Friends.."

He looked down at his cup, gulped it up in one go and rose.

"I must go. There is much to prepare for dinner." He started retreating towards the door, stopping only to add:

"I will send a valet when it is time for the dinner party. Fare well, Mr. Naruto."

Naruto's eyebrows followed the man out of his home, before he started chuckling to himself and finished up his tea.

What a strange prince, indeed.

* * *

The dinner party turned into a hilarious event; the only ones to be attending it were two of them, with the serving girl lavishing the table with expensive and mouth drooling looking food. Throughout the whole evening, prince Sasuke was holding himself rigid, trying to keep the conversation flowing, even though it was quite obvious socialism wasn't his forte.

Though, it still amused Naruto greatly, to have a prince trying to ingratiating him, a simple background character in the web story of heroes.

He invited Naruto for dinner party again, two days later, to which Naruto complied again. It went a bit lighter than last time, but still horribly stern and cold.

Naruto didn't wait for prince this time; he visited the prince in return, with an invite in his hands, surprising and pleasing him greatly.

He didn't know whether it was because of the homier type of the atmosphere, but the prince relaxed greatly and the two managed to have tied conversations that evening.

By the time of their sixth dinner together, prince has finally comfortable enough to retell the stories of his youth to his fair friend and was not nearly as nervous as before when faced with contact issues.

Another interesting thing Naruto found about the prince was that he actually liked and sought contact, whether it was a lingering hand on Naruto's shoulder, or a grasp of his hands, or a beckoning on his waist.

At first, it clearly bothered Naruto, but he learned to relax when the prince's pale hands reach for him.

By the time he realized the prince was actually actively courting him, not socializing with him, it was too late. Somehow, prince Sasuke already had him moved into the manor, oversaw his daily schedule and followed after him whenever he went. Naruto's house has been turned into a full-time clinic, run by Katsuyu and him.

He had no qualms about romance between men, not with him being the godfather at Chomei's and Awa's (a bug demon who came into the village not long before it was finished) union. It was simply his surprise at having someone romantically interested in him, and that someone being the prince of their kingdom, the great demon slayer, and the man who he never thought of that way and certainly didn't expect of him to think about Naruto that way.

He would be lying if he said he wasn't scared somewhat; Sasuke was not just any other human and it stands that the whole kingdom expects him to marry and produce a worthy heir. Something Naruto could never give him. And if it was such, if it was just a passing interest, then… Naruto decided to just stop thinking and see where it goes. If Sasuke truly means for them to reach a certain point, then he will ring the alarms.

Too bad he found himself bound by the demon union ritual before he could even share his protest; forever to be Sasuke's soul mate, in every life they lived.

Not that he minded greatly, he just hated that Sasuke managed to manipulate him into all this without him noticing a thing.

* * *

Sasuke reached his hands towards his partner, squeezing him into his chest, laying butterfly kisses all over the golden hair. Naruto pouted, trying to push him off and have a little breathing space.

His husband laughed cheerily, gripping him tighter to his side.

"I bet you didn't expect that now, did you, Naruto?"

He scowled at that annoying grin on Sasuke's face.

"Bastard. I'm going to make you suffer so much in our next life."

His threat held no real venom, but a proud man is still a stubborn mule.

"Nay. You love me too much to hurt me for real."

Naruto's cheeks blew up, knowing the dark haired man was right.

"You're still a scheming little bastard. How did you even manage to arrange all that with Kurama of all people?!"

A mysterious smirk played at his mouth and Naruto knew he will never find out. From him, at least.

"Oh, bugger off!" He mumbled into his lover chest.

"I love you too, Naruto."

"… _love ya too_ …"

Sasuke smiled for the soft whisper Naruto let out for his heart only.

What a wonderful day it is to be a hero.

* * *

 **a/n:** Ummm, yeah... not nearly enough fluff, or smut, while we're at it, as I wanted; but I figured this _was_ enough. I mean, anything more added and it would be a different story.. or different than how I imagined it to be. Aw, don't you just love the oblivious til the end Naruto? I know I do.

Anyways, review for the sake of my poor, poor head that is hurting like a... won't say what, now.


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